25 March 2012

One of our favorite things about this mission is the opportunity to work with the young missionaries in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) here in Santo Domingo. About two weeks ago we had a new group of missionaries arrive at the MTC. Seven from the USA, one from Norway, and 14 from Haiti. Our Sacrament Meeting last Sunday had speakers speaking Creole (Haiti), Spanish and English. What a beautiful thing to hear hymns being sung in three different languages

The Missionaries at Tuesday morning devotional

President Glazier asked me (Elder Button) to help him interview the Haitian missionaries. With the aid of a translator I had the privilege to interview six of these wonderful young people. It is so humbling to learn of their lives and testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have suffered hardships and challenges that I can't even image. Yet they are happy and excited about life. They are spiritually powerful. They truly are the hope of Israel in Haiti. In 20 years they will not only lead the Church in Haiti, but I believe they will be the key to solve the economic and political problems that have plagued that country since its inception.

The missionaries at the Botanical Gardens

On Sunday nights we have a devotional for the missionaries followed by refreshments - ice cream sundaes. Here are a few pictures of the first group of missionaries we worked with enjoying their treats.

20 March 2012

﻿﻿﻿﻿Our first area in our mission to Puerto Rico was the beautiful island of Vieques. We fell in love with the people. We became family. We taught them that in our days Heavenly Father has restored the power and authority that Jesus gave to Peter to seal, or make permanent, things on Earth and in Heaven - most especially our family relationships. Prieto and Bethsaida Ventura, with their son Melvin, set the goal to become worthy to receive that blessing for themselves. Luz Romero, a noble, loving woman set her goal to provide her deceased ancestors the same blessings. This week they came to the temple, guided by their wonderful branch president, Roberto Velez and his wife Maribel. What a wonderful week we had with these dear people that we love so much! Here are a few pictures of this, the best week of both of our missions...so far! ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Bethsaida, Melvin, Prieto, Luz, Roberto, Maribel & us at the front doors of the temple.

11 March 2012

Our fun weekend started on Friday night when Sister Cornish and Reed (Elder Cornish was away at a District Conference in Suriname) invited us over to their apartment to play games. They live on the 4th floor of the tallest building that you can see in the picture below. This building is just northwest of the building where we live.

We live on the 2nd floor of the building below.

Saturday is our preparation and relaxation day. We started off going with the Cornish's to PriceSmart, the almost equivalent of Price/Sam's Club in the Dominican Republic.

After unloading our groceries we decided to go on an "outing". Some of our friends, the McDermids told us about a nice place nearby called Juan Dolio so we decided to try it out. The Rees, Buttons and Cornishs loaded up in the van and off we went. Here are some things we saw on the way.

When we got there we went for a walk on the beach. Here are some things we saw:

04 March 2012

One of our assignments is to drive the Area Presidency and others, to and from the airport. The airport is located to the east of Santo Domingo and takes about 30 minutes, depending on the traffic. The streets in the DR aren't up to US standards. The driving practices here in the DR are interesting...to say the least. Elder Button believes that he was called as young man to Mexico in order to prepare him to drive in Puerto Rico, and that he was called to Puerto Rico to prepare him to drive in Santo Domingo. Here are a few pictures of one of our recent trips to the airport: